Obama signs Cruz Iran diplomat bill

Sen. Ted Cruz’s bill to forbid an Iranian diplomat from entering the U.S. got President Barack Obama’s signature Friday, though the president noted he still considers the law “advisory.”

The law spearheaded by the typically polarizing Texas Republican was a rare moment of consensus in D.C.: Obama’s sign-off follows unanimous passage in the Senate and House last week.

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The bill would tweak existing law to prohibit entry to the U.S. to anyone who has engaged in terrorist activity against the U.S. or its allies in the past, a move triggered by Iran’s selection of Hamid Aboutalebi, who was involved in the 1979 taking of Americans hostage in Tehran, as its U.N. ambassador.

But while the president signed the law, he noted in a statement that he will continue to use “discretion” on its enforcement, citing his Republican predecessor George H.W. Bush.

“Acts of espionage and terrorism against the United States and our allies are unquestionably problems of the utmost gravity, and I share the Congress’s concern that individuals who have engaged in such activity may use the cover of diplomacy to gain access to our nation,” Obama said. “Nevertheless, as President Bush also observed, ‘curtailing by statute my constitutional discretion to receive or reject ambassadors is neither a permissible nor a practical solution.’ I shall therefore continue to treat section 407, as originally enacted and as amended by S. 2195, as advisory in circumstances in which it would interfere with the exercise of this discretion.”

Cruz thanked Obama for signing the bill in a statement Friday evening.

“This is a great moment of clarity from the House, Senate, and White House,” Cruz said. “We have shown the world that when confronted with virulent anti-Americanism, we can stand together in defense of our national security. The combined bipartisan support of both the Congress and the president sends Iran—and other rogue nations—the clear signal that the United Nations is not a back door through which they can attack the United States of America.”